Ice Hockey existed in amateur form in Sheffield, but the sport began its return to an era of arenas and stadium size crowds with the opening of the Sheffield Arena in 1991 and the creation of the Sheffield Steelers - the ice hockey team that was to occupy the new arena. The Sheffield Arena was built as part of the city's facilities for the staging of the World Student Games, and is a sizeable stadium originally seating 8,500 and located close to the city centre.[1] Ronnie Wood and David Gardener-Brown were at the helm as the Marketing Director at the club and set about promoting ice hockey to a city raised on the footballing success of Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday. Wood had a specific target, seeking to attract children and families to the city's new sporting Arena. As he stated in an interview in Liam Sluyter's A Game of Three Halves (Mainstream Publishing, 1998) "we were sending guys around schools. We wrote to all the schools in Sheffield and said "Bring the kids, see the Arena, sit down, experience the whole thing" ". They also began taking players to local football matches and parading them around the ground with mascots in an attempt to pull in football fans too. Another marketing ploy was to give certain players nicknames to help the crowd associate with the new (and as yet unknown) players. This was an idea hatched by the announcer Dave Simms.

The Steelers were named in honor of Sheffield's industrial past, much like the American football team of the same name based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the sharing of nicknames are merely a coincidence. The American football team actually predates Sheffield's team by 58 years and was already popular worldwide due to their dominance in the National Football League in the 1970s. Sheffield and Pittsburgh are considered sister cities

The Sheffield Steelers were the first ever fully professional ice hockey team in Great Britain, and O'Brien suggested that there was a lot of resentment from the followers of other hockey teams who saw them as a "cheque book hockey club" able to buy whoever they chose.Likewise, Sluyter questions the authenticity of the majority of Steelers fans in the club's early days. Though he admitted that it was a generalisation, Sluyter suggested hockey fans of teams like Cardiff, Fife and Nottingham were ice hockey fans first and foremost, while Steelers' supporters were only Steelers fans, and knew very little of ice hockey outside of Sheffield. However, it made little difference as Sheffield began breaking several British ice hockey attendance records, and in March of that year added an extra 1,200 seats to the Arena to meet the growing demand.

Sheffield Steelers had begun their first ever season in English Division One of the British Hockey League. One year later Sheffield Steelers won promotion into the British Premier League, before going on to win this in 1995 - the last team to do so before the formation of the new British Ice Hockey Super League (ISL) that year.

On Sunday 3 December 2006, the Steelers played in their 1000th ever game. The game was against the Basingstoke Bison at the Hallam FM Arena, for which special orange jerseys had been made for the match. The Steelers lost the game 3-2 and the jerseys were all auctioned off at the game.

Sheffield Steelers today brought their roster up to fifteen with the addition of former DEL2 right winger Jesse Schultz.

“Just two seasons ago he was the third highest scorer in the East Coast league. His experience is vast both in North America and Europe. He is a perfect fit for us and a great addition to the team that we take into the Champions League in August” said coach Paul Thompson.“He is obviously an offensive talent, an offensive player” continued Thompson “I think we have a highly skilled winger who will add a further offensive punch to the line up. He is a puck possession player who comes with a great shot. I like the way he fits into the line up along side the variety of talent we have already amassed”

Sheffield Steelers of the EIHL today swooped for new signing Ryan Hayes, the EIHL top goalscorer with Edinburgh Capitals. This is hot on the heels of the signing of Swedish forward Conny Stromberg. Hayes, who has scored 25 goals, became available and with Colton Fretter of Sheffield struggling through a recurring injury it obviously seemed a prudent move by coach Paul Thompson.

(13 Jan 2016)

Record crowd in EIHL

Fans of the Sheffield Steelers and Nottingham Panthers set a new Elite League record attendance on Boxing Day.

A total of 9,087 turned out at the Sheffield Arena to watch the two teams play out a tight 2-1 contest in Steelers' favour.

(28 Dec 2015)

Coventry wins EIHL playoffs

Coventry Blaze beat Sheffield Steelers 4-2 in the final to win the EIHL playoffs. Belfast Giants beat Hull Stingrays for the third place. Sheffield Steelers are EIHL champions as they won the regular season.

(05 Apr 2015)

Coventry Blaze fired coach Söderström

Coventry Blaze announced Mathias Söderström has been replaced as head coach by Sheffield Steelers assistant coach Marc LeFebvre. Sodestrom was appointed head coach during the summer after spending a couple of season as assistant.Blaze chairman Andy Buxton said: "Marc is coming in as head coach until the end of the season. We wanted someone who knows the Elite League, knows the way the club works, knows the opposition teams and knows our players - someone who can hit the ground running. It's not easy to make a coaching change mid-season but Marc is a very bright young coach who has already shown he knows how to run a professional team and knows how to win. He now has a chance to show us what he can do."

(11 Feb 2014)

Ryan Finnerty to coach Braehead Clan

Canadian Ryan Finnerty is the new coach of Braehead Clan. The former Sheffield Steelers coach signed a two-years contract. "Glasgow is a blue collared hard working city and we want a team that will emulate that on the ice. We will have a good mixture of skill and toughness." said Finnerty

(25 Apr 2013)

Belfast Giants win Elite Ice Hockey League

By beating defending champion Sheffield Steelers 5-1 in fron of 7.000 spectators, Belfast Giants win their third EIHL title, the first from 2005-06

(17 Mar 2012)

EIHL starts

The British Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) started yesterday with two games. David-Alexandre Beauregard scored a hat trick when Nottingham Panthers beat Cardiff Devils 6-1. Mark Ramsey and Steve Birnstill both scored in the shootout to secure the 2-1 win for Sheffield Steelers against Belfast Giants.

For the second time in tournament history, Sweden has won back-to-back World Championships thanks to a 3-2 victory in a thrilling contest against Switzerland in the shootout on Sunday in Denmark. ... Read more»